


Am I Still a Monster

by punkybunny



Series: Little Fangs [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Human Experimentation, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Peter Parker Acts Like a Spider, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker has PTSD, Poisoning, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Vomiting, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:54:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25624720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punkybunny/pseuds/punkybunny
Summary: ""I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Peter felt a fresh wave of tears stream down his cheeks. "I'm sorry!""Hey, no, you were just spooked," Tony tried to reassure him, a look of hesitance on his face as he slowly approached Peter again. "It was a nightmare. I get it.""No no no no no!" Peter furiously shook his head. "I'm sorry, Mr. Stark!""Or: Peter accidently hurts Tony and can't help but feel as though he hasn't changed at all.
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Little Fangs [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1838425
Comments: 28
Kudos: 662





	Am I Still a Monster

**Author's Note:**

> It's almost 1 a.m. but I forced myself to finish this and upload today ajsdjsjs  
> I did lots of research for this oneshot but I still probably made mistakes lol whatever.  
> I'm gonna edit this and the tags tomorrow morning but for now enjoy! Oh and thank you for the support! I hope everyone else loves this Peter as much as I do <3

A week went by since Tony first brought Peter to the Compound, and it was surprising how much the boy was learning. Around Tony, he seemed to never stop asking questions, everyday more curious about the world around him. He spoke more and more, though he still made some mistakes. Tony quickly realized that the boy wanted to be corrected when he spoke incorrectly. He wanted to fit in. He wanted to improve himself. 

That desire of his often clashed with his strong fear of strangers. Tony tried his best to warn Peter if someone was visiting so that the teen could prepare himself. Happy and Rhodey came by often, so Peter had to learn to get used to their presences. 

Peter didn't want to be afraid, in fact it seemed to take a toll on the boy's pride. After all, he wasn't a baby. Tony noticed he would steel himself, force his body to stay still when either of Tony's friends visited. There was a hesitancy, a sheer terror that lingered in Peter's eyes, but he pushed himself. 

Tony found Peter greeting Rhodey and/or Happy more often, even if his voice was hushed and it looked as though the boy desperately wanted to rush to his webs and hide. The steps Peter was making to open up and learn about the world were groundbreaking and strangely, they filled Tony with pride. He had the privilege to watch such a hurt, traumatized kid step outside of his boundaries and grow. 

Peter had opened up to Pepper a bit more as well. His behavior around her correlated more with a shy child than a terrified animal. It seemed as though Pepper was easier to trust than the other men, and Tony wasn't at all surprised. 

A clatter to Tony's left had him whipped out of his thoughts, turning towards the noise. He was met with a couple tools rolling on the floor of the workshop and a pair of wide, worried brown eyes. Tony quirked up his eyebrows in amusement. 

Peter had been following Tony to his lab a lot lately. There was a special spark in the boy's eyes whenever he got to see the man's projects. He was immensely curious of every little invention and piece of technology that crossed his path. 

Of course, there wasn't much he understood about tech yet, so Tony had told him to not touch anything in case it ended up being dangerous. It didn't take long for Peter to directly disobey, fiddling with things behind the genius's back. 

"You're not in trouble, calm down." The kid really looked like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Tony concluded that nothing had been broken, which if something had, Peter would probably be in for a small scolding.

Peter continued to stare at Tony until the man turned back around to continue his work. Immediately afterward, Tony heard the sound of tools being picked up from the floor and hands messing with bits of metal that he certainly wasn't allowed to touch. Teenagers. 

The two continued their routine of Peter attempting to stealthily fiddle with the man's tools or leftover scraps while Tony worked on his projects and sipped his coffee. There was a steady silence in the large room that felt comfortable in a way Tony wasn't familiar with. He usually felt the need to fill up a lull in conversation with endless snark, but with this quiet, intelligent kid, Tony was less pressured, letting the silence settle around them. It was peaceful. 

Of course, the time had slipped away from him yet again, and FRIDAY was informing him that it was now 2:00 a.m., and he should think about getting some rest. Pepper must have gotten the AI to tell him that when she wasn't home, he thought in slight annoyance.

Tony stood, stretching out his back and cringing as it cracked. His gaze unconsciously drifted to the red hoodie-clad teen curled up on the ceiling. Tony wondered when the kid had stopped making noise and fallen asleep. He hoped it had been a while ago. Tony was fine with ruining his own sleep schedule, but he felt guilty at the thought of ruining anyone else's (not that he'd ever admit it). 

"Hey, Peter," Tony called out, watching as Peter, ever the light-sleeper, stirred right away in response. "You're gonna feel better sleeping in your room." 

That was another new development: Peter actually slept in the guest room more often than not. Though he still stuck to the ceiling. He must have started to see the room as his own private home in the penthouse. Tony imagined if the boy woke up in the workshop all alone next morning, he would be startled and confused. Tony would rather avoid the panic attack altogether.

But Peter just shook his head in response, his eyes slipping closed again. "No, I don't wanna move, Mr. Stark." 

The older man scoffed. "Well, I'm going to my bed now. And who knows. Maybe if you're up here all alone you'll miss the pancakes I'm making tomorrow morning." 

Peter perked up ever so slightly and huffed, finally getting up and crawling towards the elevator. "Alright, alright…," he mumbled. Wow, who knew Peter would develop 'teenager sass'?

They rode up the elevator in tired silence and then went off to their respective rooms, Tony's door just down the hall from Peter's. 

"Goodnight, Pete." Tony turned around to see the spider boy entering his room. 

A head of brown curls poked back out to ask, "Pancakes tomorrow?" 

The genius couldn't help but chuckle. "Hmm I guess so. Why not?" 

Peter nodded, satisfied, before mumbling out a quiet, "'Night, Mr. Stark." 

\---

Peter was in the white room again. 

There were hands on him, pushing him onto a table and strapping him down. It was all too familiar. He knew the drill: stay still and stay quiet. No questions. They never answered them anyway. 

Peter desperately wanted to leap up and hide in a dark corner on the ceiling. He wanted to run away and hiss. But they held him down tight. They knew his strength and prepared for it. 

Their faces were stern and calculating like always. It sent a chill down Peter's spine. He was sick of this. Why couldn't they just leave him alone? 

"Peter, we're going to try to learn more about your heightened senses today." 

They rarely ever spoke to him or addressed him. They never made any attempts to calm him down or gain his trust. Why would they try now? He remembered how they starved him last week. How they kicked him until one of his ribs broke when he had refused to come down from the ceiling. How could he forget? How could he learn to trust them now? 

Peter didn't respond or show any signs that he heard the man. They would probably be angry at him if he did anyways. He lay there and listened to the pens scribbling on clipboards. He waited for the pain to come because there was always pain. 

A high pitched ringing suddenly sounded throughout the room, Peter flinching in surprise. He wished to bring his hands up to cover his ears, but they remained strapped to his sides. 

The men around him weren't wearing earplugs. Did they not hear it? They just stared. They always just stared. 

It was loud but not unbearable so he grit his teeth and waited for it to end. But the sound was suddenly increasing in volume, and Peter let out a scream against his will. His body shook against the table, the noise ringing through his skull. It was horrible.

Peter lay there begging for them to stop but it didn't matter what he said. It never did. The shrill noise flooded through his ears and Peter distantly realised he was crying. His screams increased in desperation. There was nothing he could do to escape the sound. Overwhelming pain stabbed behind his closed eyes as somehow they made the ringing even louder. 

Why were they doing this? He could hear it, didn't they understand that he could hear it? What more did they want? Would he lay here and scream until he couldn't hear his own cries anymore, until he couldn't hear anything anymore? 

Please, just make it stop. 

Peter thought he was done with the pain but it always came back to him. Why did he believe he was safe? He couldn't remember. 

"Peter!" 

There was a voice, but it wasn't any of the men in white or black. This voice was worried and urgent. He knew for a fact the bad people never sounded like that when addressing him. 

"Pete, wake up!" 

No, please, he didn't want to wake up in that dark room again. He didn't want to go back to the pain and loneliness that had plagued him for most of his life. 

"Peter!" 

No! Stop it!

\---

Peter awoke in a haze, adrenaline pumping through his veins. Pure terror clouded his vision. He lunged at the arm that was gripping his hand. It was going to hurt him. Push him down, beat him, torture him until he resorted to begging, to screaming. 

Peter let his instincts guide him. He needed to be safe. To protect himself. 

He felt his fangs sink into skin before he released his venom. It all happened in a second, the boy's eyes wide in fear as he snapped at the threat below him. 

"Shit!" A voice cursed. Where had Peter heard that voice before? He felt his vision return, easily accumulating to the dark. "Peter, are you alright?" 

And as the adrenaline slowly wore off and Peter blinked at the figure in front of him, awareness spread through his mind. It was Tony. It had been Mr. Stark that woke him up. Peter had been dreaming. 

Peter had bit Tony.

And the man was asking if he was alright.

Peter recoiled back into his corner, his eyes wide for a completely different reason. "I'm sorry!" 

Tony looked down at his arm and shrugged. "It hadn't hurt all that much. I'm fine. What about you, though, kid?" 

No, Mr. Stark didn't understand. Peter had bitten him. The one person who Peter wanted to believe wouldn't hurt him, would keep him safe. The one person who tried to get him out of his shell with patience and kindness. The one person who didn't treat him like a freak. An experiment.

And Peter had bitten him. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Peter felt a fresh wave of tears stream down his cheeks. "I'm sorry!" 

"Hey, no, you were just spooked," Tony tried to reassure him, a look of hesitance on his face as he slowly approached Peter again. "It was a nightmare. I get it." 

"No no no no no!" Peter furiously shook his head. "I'm sorry, Mr. Stark!" 

Tony looked plain concerned at this point, but then something crossed his expression. He clutched his forearm where the bite marks lay, the skin around burning red. Peter watched as pure agony settled in Tony's eyes as the man cursed loudly. 

Tony stumbled back so he pressed against the wall in an attempt to stay on his feet. His breathing sped up, coming out in pained gasps, his gaze clouding. Peter felt frozen to his spot, forced to watch Tony stumble through the pain that he had caused him. 

When it became obvious that the man wasn't aware of his surroundings anymore, the pain too insistent, Peter shook himself out of his fear and yelled out in a panic, "F-FRIDAY? Please, help!" 

The AI's response was immediate. "Medical assistance is on its way. Peter, you need t-" 

But Peter wasn't listening anymore, his eyes fixed on Tony, who was taking labored breaths and now kneeling on the ground, as he tried to stay conscious through the pain. 

Peter thought maybe he had changed. He wanted to believe that he was slowly becoming someone worthy of love, but as he watched the one person who was patient with him, who offered him comfort, being wheeled away on a gurney all because of him, Peter thought maybe he was wrong. He had caused this. He still couldn't control himself. He was dangerous, no matter how much he learned about the world, or how many words he spoke. 

Peter realized as a new group of men in black crowded around him and pulled him from the ceiling, that he was still a monster. 

\---

His arm was on fire. That was the first thought that Tony had when he woke up. He was being moved on a gurney, various people crowding around him and checking his vitals. They talked much too loudly and Tony found himself groaning as his head throbbed. But he was used to headaches, he'd be okay. 

Tony sat up much too quickly because he was fine, really, his arm just hurt a little and he was breathing oddly. But he was fine. That was proven wrong as right when he propped himself up, a wave of intense nausea flooded his system and he was leaning over to vomit over the side of the gurney. 

When his heaving died down and spots of black filled his vision, Tony felt hands on his shoulders guiding him to lay back down. 

He didn't even have time to protest before he was losing consciousness again. 

\---

The next time Tony woke up, he could tell he was resting on a much more comfortable surface, the bed plush under his stiff back. His arm still hurt like hell and he glanced over at it to see it was slightly elevated and wrapped in bandages. His inner elbow felt cold on his left arm where an IV was injected. 

There was an agonizing cramp twisting his stomach and the pull of nausea was still strong. But it seemed like his breathing was mainly under control, coming out more steadily and less erratic. 

Tony stared ahead at the white walls of the hospital room, his head foggy. But there was a sense of worry nagging at the back of his mind, and he tried to pinpoint why he felt it. 

Then he remembered. Peter. Tony had been alerted by FRIDAY that Peter was in great distress, so he got up from bed to check on him. The kid had had a nightmare. He was screaming and crying all alone on the ceiling, wrapped up in his webs, and Tony knew what he needed to do. He needed to wake him up and remind him of the real world, the present world. At the time, there was no hesitance to rush over to the boy. 

When Peter had bitten him, Tony wasn't angry at all. That was surprising even to him. But he understood the fear Peter was feeling. The whole situation was reminiscent of a time when Tony's nightmares were much more frequent and he had lashed out at Pepper. So Tony understood the terror and he remembered the feeling of guilt that filled Peter's eyes once filling his own.

Everything after that was a blur of pain and dark spots in his vision and red skin around a bite mark. 

Tony didn't know how long he sat there in delirious pain, his head filled with memories and cotton, before he heard the door open and Bruce rush in. "Tony! You're awake. How are you feeling?" 

Tony scoffed, groggily turning his gaze to the doctor. "Like shit." 

Despite Tony's answer, Bruce gave a relieved smile. "At least you still have your sass. We connected you to an IV and the painkillers should start to kick in soon. Your wound has been cleaned and is being elevated to help with the blood flow. We're about to inject you with antivenin, which should help with the rest of the venom in your system. The symptoms and the venom itself very closely resembled that of the black widow bite." Bruce sighed and rubbed his eyes. "So we're lucky. That means we know how to treat it."

A lot of what the doctor said went in one ear and out the other, but that meant Tony would be okay, right? He assumed he would be in a lot more pain right now, or not even conscious if he wasn't going to be okay. 

Bruce continued. "When I heard you went down, I assumed something horrible would have happened. You're pretty stubborn like that. And don't get me wrong, this could have been fatal." A beat of heavy silence. "But it's also very treatable."

Bruce went to inject the antivenin into Tony's bloodstream, and while he did that he looked up at Tony to ask, "How did you even let this happen, Tony? Why would you let that enhanced live with you?" 

Tony was taken aback by the questions, they had come out of nowhere. But of course it wouldn't take long for everyone to find out about Peter. He knew he couldn't hide the kid in his penthouse forever. But he also knew that they would react like this: like Peter was dangerous. So his goal was to slowly introduce the kid to people. Well, so much for that. 

"Bruce, he's not dangerous, I swear-"

"He literally poisoned you!" 

"He was scared! It was an accident, he couldn't control himself. You get that, don't you? I didn't want SHIELD to find out about him because, well, you know how they'd act." 

Bruce sighed again, finishing up the injection and sitting down in the chair near the bed. He hesitated, pursing his lips, before responding, "You know this isn't my call to make. SHIELD was notified of the enhanced. They want to make sure he can't hurt anyone else-"

"He's a teenager!" Tony was exhausted and his arm was starting to feel less like it might combust and more like it was being slowly grilled, but damn, if he wasn't going to get angry and speak his mind. "What are they gonna do? Lock him up? Poke at him until they're satisfied?" 

This is why he didn't tell SHIELD about Peter in the first place. They must have still known something was up. Tony and Rhodey had raided a Hydra base that was definitely conducting experiments on people and, for some reason, found no enhanced individuals. It must have sounded suspicious. Tony inwardly cursed. 

Bruce opened his mouth to respond, but Tony continued, "Where's Peter? Yeah, that's his name. 'Cause he's a human being." 

Bruce extended his hands in a placating gesture. "Tony, you need to rest right now. The enhanced- Peter. Peter's alright, he's just being watched very closely by SHIELD right now." 

Tony wanted to continue to protest, to ask to see the kid with his own eyes, but a wave of nausea hit him. Bruce seemed to understand by his facial expression because he quickly reached for the trash bin next to the bed and held it out to the other man. Tony heaved up what was left of the food in his stomach. Dark shapes danced across his eyes and he groaned in annoyance when exhaustion overwhelmed him. 

He didn't want to pass out again. He wanted to storm off and make sure there wasn't a scared teen with wide brown eyes hissing on a ceiling somewhere. But of course his body had other plans. 

Darkness flooded his mind for the third time.

\---

Tony awoke in considerably less pain than every time before. His arm was throbbing but other than that and a light headache, he didn't feel too bad. The painkillers must really be doing their thing. An intense grogginess clouded his head, as he blinked into awareness. 

There was light streaming in through the windows, so it must have been early in the morning. Or maybe he was out for much longer than he thought. A figure was sitting next to him, but it wasn't Bruce. The shock of orange was the first thing he noticed before his eyes adjusted and he made out a worried looking Pepper. 

She caught his eye and gave a quiet gasp, clutching his hand with a death grip. "Tony, oh my gosh. Are you alright?" 

He nodded instinctively, but this time he realized he meant it. "Not a big deal." His tongue felt like lead. 

Pepper raised an eyebrow. "I was worried, Tony. We all were. But thank goodness they were able to treat you so easily." 

Tony was glad Pepper didn't seem too stressed. She had to put up with a lot from him. Tony never wanted anyone to be concerned about him, he could always handle it himself. But then again, maybe that line of thinking is what caused a lot of these problems. 

The man couldn't help but let his thoughts drift back to Peter. He must be so scared right now. "Is Peter okay?" 

Pepper sighed, but a look of amusement crossed over her features. "I knew you'd ask about him right away." She paused, obviously thinking over what to say, but then she saw the urgent look on Tony's face and continued, "Some SHIELD agents are keeping him in a hospital room a couple doors down. They want to hear what you have to say about his enhancements. They're very… interested." 

Tony fumed, fumbling to sit up. He cursed but Pepper cut him off before he could say more. "Don't even try to go over there. Bruce said you need to stay in bed for a week. You're recovering, Tony." 

"Tell them to come over here then." 

Tony knew how frightened Peter got around new people. Tony knew a lot about the boy now. He knew about how much he loved sweet and spicy food, but really he would eat anything without complaint. He knew how much he enjoyed watching Tony work and learning new things in the lab. He knew how much the kid delighted at discovering a new animal on TV or from watching them from up on the Compound roof (namely birds or squirrels but sometimes the occasional pet dog). Tony couldn't imagine how much it would scare Peter to be locked in a cage again, to be forced to work for someone (or god forbid- fight for someone).

Pepper drew her eyebrows together in concern, contemplating. Finally, she took a deep breath and nodded. She stood up swiftly and when she reached the doorway, she turned around to murmur back at him, "I care about him, too, honey." 

Tony waited with bated breath, feeling utterly useless in his hospital bed. He desperately wished he had Peter's enhanced senses right about now so he could hear how it was going. Hopefully, they weren't being difficult with Pepper, she didn't deserve that after all the stress she must have gone through these past couple hours. 

It felt like an eternity before there was a knock at his door and then without waiting for a reply, it was slid open. In walked a couple agents, none that he recognised, but honestly, he could have met some of them before and just not remembered. That sounds like something he'd do. 

They were dressed in all black and looked very serious, though it was hard to tell how any of them were feeling. That's usually how it went with them. After about three of them entered, Peter walked in, with two more agents trailing behind him in case he bolted. 

Tony felt his blood run cold when he saw the pair of ridiculously thick handcuffs securing Peter's hands behind his back. They were probably made to hold enhanced individuals. He was still wearing his pajamas from the night before - a pair of too-big sweats and a simple white shirt. That just seemed to accenterate how small and young the boy looked. 

But what surprised Tony the most was seeing Peter walking on the floor and not crawling on the ceiling. His gaze flickered around in fear and he hunched in on himself. But then he caught sight of Tony sitting in the hospital bed across the room, the boy's brown eyes widening with hope and relief before settling on a look of intense guilt. Peter averted his gaze to his socks. 

One of the agents spoke up, "I understand how this looks," He motioned to Peter's handcuffed wrists. "But we don't know for sure if he is a danger or not. We wanted to speak with you first because we were made aware that he has been staying with you." 

He waited for a response from Tony expectantly. Tony demanded, "Take off the handcuffs first." 

"Sir, I don't thi-" 

"Just do it."

The man hesitated before giving in, nodding to one of the other agents. They undid the handcuffs, warily eyeing Peter, but the boy just stood there uncertainly. Tony caught his eye and gestured for him to come over. With a glance at the agents for conformation, Peter made the agonisingly slow couple steps over to Tony's side. The teen eyed the chair for a moment before awkwardly sitting, his hands fidgeting in his lap. 

"You okay, kid?" Tony asked, his voice hushed. 

Peter blinked at him, and Tony thought for a second he may not answer but he finally whispered, "I'm sorry, Mr. Stark. I didn't- didn't mean to." 

Fuck, Tony didn't deserve this kid. No one did. The billionaire reached over to ruffle his curls, slowly so the kid understood his intention. "It's alright. Honestly. I'm fine now. I don't want you to blame yourself, you were hardly even conscious, Pete." 

One of the agents cleared their throats and damn, Tony really wanted to snap at them all to leave. But no, he needed to sort this out. He took a deep breath to ground himself, flashing the kid a reassuring smile before turning to the agents. "Listen, Peter really isn't dangerous." 

One of them opened their mouth to object but he held up his good hand. "He was just scared. I swear it won't happen again." 

"Sir, we need to be certain." It was the man he spoke to before. "We need to keep an eye on him preferably until he acclimates into society, at least a year from now. I also believe it would be beneficial for us to learn more about his enhancements-" 

"-No, you are not going to be running any tests on him. He's through with that shit." At Tony's words, Peter startled, his eyes widening in terror. His breath sped up. 

"I think it could lead to some important-"

"-I don't care. No experiments. But maybe we can figure out some way to keep you updated on his status." Pepper would be glad if she was here right now. Tony was actually trying to negotiate for once. "How about one of your people checks in on Peter once a week?" 

The agent was hesitant to agree to not perform any tests or get to learn about Peter's enhancements, but he sighed, relenting. "Okay, we can do that." 

"And I need to be with Peter when this happens," Tony added, his gaze on the nervous teen next to him who still seemed to be caught up on the words 'test' and 'experiment. 

"Well… alright. But you need to give us updates if you learn any more about his enhancements." 

"Yeah, sure," Tony was only half-listening, reaching out reluctantly for Peter's hand in an effort to calm the boy down. Peter jumped but relaxed when he saw it was just Tony, a small smile gracing his face. "Are we done here?" 

The agents whispered amongst each other for a few seconds, but eventually the man who Tony assumed was the higher up, replied, "We'll be in touch." Then they exited the room, the door closing and leaving the two in silence. 

Tony made an effort to scooch over in his bed as much as he could. He patted the spot next to him in a quiet invitation. At this gesture, Peter bit his lip worriedly, his gaze flitting around. "C'mon, kid. Don't leave me waiting." 

Tear filled brown eyes met Tony's and then the kid was plopping down next to him, his arms wrapping around Tony in a hug. Oh, that was surprising. Peter was never big on physical affection, but he could understand considering the only experience the boy probably had with touch was negative. 

Tony brought his good arm up and winded his hand into chocolate curls. He chuckled. "Geez, you're gonna squeeze me to death, kid. What, do you have super strength, too?" It was a joke, but Peter looked up at him in surprise. "Wait, do you…?" Peter just giggled, not responding but burying his face back into Tony's chest. 

Wow, this kid really had him becoming a total sap. "I wanna remind you that you aren't to blame, Pete. Because I know you're still beating yourself up over it." 

Tony knew he didn't need to elaborate when Peter pulled away, sitting with his shoulder pressed to Tony's and his gaze downward. "Hurt you. I hurt you." He corrected himself. "I was worried that I would be alone again. That I deserved it because... I was a monster. Maybe I still am." Tony almost didn't hear him, his voice a low whisper. 

The genius felt his heart break. He tilted his head to try to catch Peter's eyes. "Kid, you're more human than I lot of people I've had to deal with. You're kind and genuine. You never deserved what happened to you. And guess what? I'm not going anywhere. I'll be by your side for as long as you can stand me." He smirked at the small, watery chuckle he received in response. "Hey, and your lil bite wasn't even that bad. If I get too annoying, feel free to shoot some venom my way." 

Peter looked absolutely terrified, furiously shaking his head. He gripped at Tony's hand. Wow, now Tony felt really bad. "It's okay, I was joking, bud. No more poison for me." Peter gave him a suspicious look, but relaxed nonetheless. 

"Oh, and how do you feel about the plan I made with those agents?" He should have probably asked Peter earlier, but he had been occupied with wrapping the conversation up as quickly as possible. 

"No tests," Peter mumbled.

"Yup, no tests. I knew you wouldn't be a fan of those." 

Peter nodded, a faraway look clouded his eyes but he quickly snapped out of it. He looked up at Tony meaningfully, big chestnut eyes shining. "Thank you, Mr. Stark. For everything." Suddenly Tony had a spider kid squished against his chest again and arms looped around his sides. "I'm glad they didn't get to take me away. I feel safe with you," Peter whispered.

No one had ever said that to Tony before. He wasn't used to hearing such open, genuine statements. Let alone believing them. He couldn't comprehend how quickly he had let this boy wiggle his way into his heart. 

Tony fought the mistiness in his eyes and brought a hand up to rub Peter's back as the kid sniffled. Tony found himself agreeing with his statement, despite the fact that Peter bit him less than a day ago. "Me too, kiddo."

**Author's Note:**

> (They totally ordered some pancakes after this)  
> Thank you for reading! I have an idea for a small fluffy oneshot in this series that hopefully will be up soon :) <3 <3 <3


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